Erased
by flowerpower71
Summary: "I'm old! I've lived my life. Sure it wasn't much of a great one but I've still lived it! Those kids haven't even gotten a chance to start living! I'm not letting them die if there's something I can do to prevent it! So help me Stanford I'm not letting you take that away from me! So suck it up! Shut up! AND START STRIPPING!" My take on what happened when the Stans switched clothes
**AUTHOR'S NOTE: CONTAINS** ** _MAJOR_** **SPOILERS FOR THE LAST EPISODE OF GRAVITY FALLS! SEASON 2 EPISODE 20: WEIDMAGEDDON PART 3: TAKE BACK THE FALLS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

...

Have you ever had one of those moments where anything and everything that can go wrong, does go wrong? And just when you think you've reached your breaking point and things cannot possibly get any worse than they are now, they do?

Well, Stanford and Stanley Pines were having one of those moments right now.

With the rift broken, the evil triangle mind demon known as Bill Cipher was released into the world along with his evil cronies and with them came the literal end of the world which had been dubbed Weirdmaggedon.

Ford had been captured early on in the apocalypse while Stan and a few lucky survivors of Gravity Falls all hid out in the Mystery Shack which was thankfully protected from Bill's wrath thanks to a protective barrier spell which Ford (with a little help from Dipper and Mabel) had placed upon the shack a few weeks prior.

After the townspeople and the younger Pines twins worked together to transform the rundown building into a giant fighting robot, Ford had been rescued but just when it seemed that things were finally turning around in their favor, the plan fell apart right before their very eyes.

Now the elder Pines twins found themselves trapped in a triangular cell made by Bill and despite their begging and protests and orders, Dipper and Mabel had taken it upon themselves to lead the evil creature away from their beloved Grunkles.

"You two wait here. I got some children I need to make into corpses." the evil creature known as Bill Ciper said ominously. His yellow triangular body growing large and red. Extra limbs and two mouths appearing, looking absolutely terrifying. The new, terrifying, demon looking beast turned towards the horrified old men in the blue triangle cage and spoke with a deep, rumbling voice that sounded as if it were erupting from the depths of Hell itself. "See ya real soon."

"No! Wait! No! NO!" Stanley begged, desperation and fear in his voice as he and his twin brother had no choice but to watch as the homicidal maniac went after their great niece and nephew. "Oh man! What do we do!? What do we do!?"

"KIIIIIIDS!" Ford screamed at the top of his lungs banging on the bars of the cage. But it was too late. Bill had already disappeared, scurrying after the children like a giant spider. Now the Stan twins were left alone. Hopeless, trapped and terrified.

"Ugh! I cant believe this!" Stanley wailed, sinking to his knees. "The kids are going to die and its all my fault because I couldn't hold your stupid hand!" A hand flew up and covered half of the old man's face. Ford had never seen his brother look so down and pathetic before. "Dad was right about me...I am a screw up."

"Ah, don't blame yourself." Ford sighed. "I'm the one who made a deal with Bill in the first place. I fell for all his flattery. You would have seen him for the scam artist he is."

Ford reached into the inside pocket of his beloved trenchcoat and pulled out a canteen of liquor, taking a big, long swig of it before sitting down and passing it to his twin. Hey, if they're going to die, might as well have one last drink, right?

"...How did things get so messed up between us?" Stanley mumbled, half to himself and half to Ford before taking a sip from the canteen.

"We used to be like Dipper and Mabel." Ford mused, thinking back to the days of childhood. Back when he and Stan used to be the best of friends. "The world's about to end and they still work together. How do they do it?"

Stanley shrugged and replied the simple truth. "Easy, they're kids. They don't know any better."

A moment of silence fell between the twins; both their minds swimming with worries, thoughts of regret, memories from the past but most of all, trying to figure out an idea on how to stop all this madness and save the kids.

But no matter how much they thought, how much they hoped and prayed and brainstormed, neither of the Stans could come up with an idea. There was no way out of the cage and even if they could get out, what could they do? Bill Cipher was an all powerful mind demon and they were just two ordinary old men. There was nothing they could do to stop this. Nothing they could do to save their family.

Nothing...except one thing.

Stanley was snapped out of his thoughts as he felt movement next to him and saw Stanford stand up. "Whoa, where are you going?" he automatically asked, though quickly realized how stupid the question was. They were in a cage. Neither him nor Ford were going anywhere whether they wanted to or not.

"I'm going to play the only card we have left." Ford said quietly, his voice the most serious that Stan had ever heard. "Let Bill into my mind. He'll be able to take over the galaxy and maybe worse...But at least he _might_ let the kids free."

Stan felt his heart leap into his throat and his stomach instantly twist itself into a tight knot. Him and Ford might have their differences but above all else, despite everything they have done to each other, they were still brothers. And Stan would be damned if he let his twin go through with this.

"WHAT?! Are you kidding me!?" Stan shrieked, leaping to his feet and dropping the canteen. "Are you honestly telling me there's nothing else we can do!?"

"Bill's only weak in the Mindscape." Ford pointed out. He raised a fist and tapped it against his skull, causing the metal plate inside to clank and echo. "If I didn't have this darn plate in my head we could just erase him with the memory gun when he steps inside my mind."

Once again, another silence descended upon the twins. Stan frowned looking at his brother and then down at the memory gun which Ford had pulled out of his trenchcoat for emphasis. It killed him inside to admit it but his brother was right. This seemed to be the only way to save the kids.

That is unless...

"...What if he stepped into my mind? My brain isn't good for anything."

Despite the circumstances, Stanford couldn't help but laugh a little bit at the idea but he quickly frowned. "There's nothing in your mind he wants. It has to be me. We need to take his deal. It's the only way he'll agree to save you and the kids."

"Do you really think he's gonna make good on that deal?" Stan pointed out. Bill's deals always had always backfired in the past. Why would this be any different.

Ford looked up at his twin. Sadness, despair and hopelessness showing in his brown eyes. "What other choice do we have?"

For a third time, an ominous silence fell upon the Pines twins. This was their only way out and there was nothing they could do.

No.

NO!

Stanley Pines was not going to stand by and watch his brother die! Ford was the smart one! The favored twin! Ford was the one who was going to do great things in the world! Not Stanley. Stanley was a conartist, a liar and a thief. Ford was the genius.

Stanford was the one who deserved to live. Not Stanley. And no matter what, Stanley was going to make sure he was the one who made that deal with Bill.

But how?! How!? Ford was right. It was Ford's mind that Bill wanted, not Stan's.

 _"Think Stanley! Think!"_ Stan leaned against the walls of his prison and stared at the ground. What to do? What to do? If only there was someway he could switch places with Ford.

Wait...switch places...with Ford...

"THAT'S IT!"

Stanford jumped at the sudden exclamation and whirled around looking at his twin confused. "What's it? What are you talking about?"

"Ford, do you remember that time when we were kids and we played that trick on Ma?"

Ford blinked even more confused. Why of all times and of all things would Stanley be remembering that. "What prank?"

"Remember? I didn't want to go to those stupid violin lessons but you did so we switched clothes and you went to the lessons and I stayed home?"

Stanford blinked a few times and then his eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying..."

"Yes! That's exactly what I'm saying! We switch places, Bill enters my mind and then you zap him with the gun!"

"Stanley no!" Ford immediately shot that idea down. "It's too dangerous!"

"It's not anymore dangerous than the situation we're already in right now!"

"No! I wont let you go through with this!"

"Well I'M not letting you go through with it!"

"Dammit Stanley why do you always have to be so stubborn!?"

"BECAUSE I DONT WANT TO LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Stanford stopped, staring at his twin, blinking in surprise at the sudden outburst. Stanley's body heaved up and down as he panted from anger. "Stanley..."

"...I...I don't want to lose you again Ford." Stan mumbled, looking down at the floor. "You were gone all this time because of me...I've been a screw up my whole life. I've done so many things wrong." Stan's brow furrowed and he looked up glaring at his twin. "But this is the one thing I know I can do right! Saving my family! I'm old! I've lived my life. Sure it wasn't much of a great one but I've still lived it! Those kids, they haven't even gotten a chance to start living! I'm not letting them die if there's something I can do to prevent it! And so help me Stanford I'm not letting you take that away from me! So suck it up! Shut up! AND START STRIPPING!"

"...Alright." Ford sighed and gave in. "But what about our voices? Surely Bill will notice that!"

"You worry too much, Poindexter." Stan couldn't help but grin a little bit at the expression Ford made when he heard a dead on impression of his voice.

"...Okay. That was pretty good."

"Now you do me."

Ford took a moment and cleared his throat. "How does this sound?"

Stanley gave a thumbs up. "Perfect. You sound just like me. Now hurry up and switch clothes with me before he comes back."

With what little time they had left, the elderly men quickly began to put their sneaky plan into action. Ford shimmied out of his trench coat and grabbed the bottom of his red turtle neck sweater. He lifted the sweater up just above his bellybutton but quickly pulled it down and shot his twin an annoyed glare. "Do you mind?!"

"What?" Stan asked turning his head as he worked on taking off his bow tie.

"A little privacy please!?" Ford hissed, still pulling down his sweater.

Stanley stopped, his tuxedo jacket halfway off, and gave his brother a deadpan expression. "...You're serious?"

"Yes Im serious!"

"For cripes sake Ford! We're brothers! Twins! We shared a room till Dad kicked me out of the house! It's nothing I aint seen before!"

"Just turn around!"

Stanley groaned and whirled around, turning his back on his brother. They didn't have time to fight over this. "You're such a prude."

Ford just merely huffed in response and turned his back on Stanley, finally starting to peel his sweater off.

The two continued to undress. Once Stanley got his jacket, shirt, tie and fez off. He turned around to give them to his brother, one hand already starting to work on unbuckleing his belt.

"Alright here. Toss me your...sweater..."

Stanley froze at the sight he saw. Stanford's bare back was still facing him and was littered with scars of varying size, shapes and colors. Burn scars, scars from a knife. Near his side were three long scratches as if a pair of claws had scratched across the skin. A particularly large scar took up most of the center of his back and even more scars ran up and down Stanford's arms, stopping just above his wrists.

"Oh geez..." Stan whispered seeing the scars. "Ford..."

Stanford slowly turned his head and looked at his brother, his brown eyes looking sad. "I told you not to look."

"What the heck happened to you?" Stan whispered, his eyes growing a bit wider as Ford turned to face him, revealing even more scars covering his chest, stomach, neck and every other place on the front of his body, minus the face and hands.

Ford just gave a simple shrug of the shoulders and grabbed Stanley's shirt. "This is what thirty years of being in a different dimension does to you." he mumbled as he slid on Stan's shirt and started to button the buttons.

A wave of fresh guilt washed over Stanley as he watched the scars disappear underneath the shirt. No wonder Ford always wore that turtleneck.

"I...I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about that now." Ford dismissed, tossing his own clothes at Stanley. "Hurry! They could be back any minute!"

...

"How do I look?"

Stanford looked his twin up and down. "Like looking in a mirror."

"Same." Stan said as he reached over and adjusted the fez on Ford's head. He reached a hand into his brother's trenchcoat that he was wearing and pulled out the memory gun and handed it to Ford. "Listen, no matter what, use this once he's inside my mind. Don't hesitate. Don't worry about what happens to me. Just pull the trigger."

"I know that." Ford said, his voice sounding small and scared. With a slightly trembling hand, Ford reached out and took the memory gun and stuffed it inside his/Stanley's jacket. Ford froze suddenly, a thought occurring to him. "Uh oh."

"What's the matter now?"

"What're we going to do about our hands?"

Stanley stared at his brother and then facepalmed. Those stupid extra fingers were going to be the death of them all. "I forgot about that!"

"Wait a second! I have an idea!" Ford suddenly lunged forward and started digging his hands into the pockets of his trench coat.

"Hey! What the- hehe-cut that out!" Stanley snapped squirming as his brother continued to search through the coat but his words fell on deaf ears.

"Come on. Come on. Where are...Ah ha! Found them!" Stanford proclaimed victoriously as he pulled out his black leather gloves and a small note pad.

"What's the notepad for?" Stan asked watching as his brother held the notepad and one of his gloves in one hand and held the other glove by a finger with his teeth. He then proceeded to rip out some of the pages of the notepad.

"Can't pass off like you hand six fingers if one of fingers in your glove is empty." Ford said, stuffing the ripped out papers into one of the fingers of the glove. It stiffened up as more and more papers were shoved inside. Once the glove finger was full, Ford took the glove and slid it on Stanley's hand. Fit like...well a glove.

"Smart thinking."

"Naturally." Ford replied, the tiniest hint of smugness in his voice.

"But what are we going to do about your hands?"

Ford finished stuffing the finger of the second glove and passed it to Stan. "You're pretending to be me. We're just going to have to hope Bill doesn't notice.

Stan grunted in response and slid on the second glove and just like that, the first part of their plan was complete and the reality of the situation began to set in.

"...We're really going through with this." Ford whispered, reality of what he would have to do very soon settling in. He was going to have to erase Stan's mind. All the memories. Over sixty years worth of memories gone. Just like that. And with them, so would Stan's personality. He wont know who he is. Who Dipper and Mabel are.

He wont even know who Ford is.

"Just think of the kids." Stan said, both to himself and to Ford. "We're doing this for the kids."

Ford swallowed down the lump in his throat and nodded. "For Dipper and Mabel."

"For Gravity Falls."

"For the universe."

Another silence fell upon the twins. Nothing else could be said or done. Now all they had to do was wait for Bill to return.

"...I'm scared Ford." Stanley whispered, looking towards the door, grasping the bars of the cage.

"There's still time to back out." Ford responded softly. "I could still-"

"No." Stanley cut him off. "It's going to be me."

More silence. Stanley continued to hold the bars and look out straight ahead of the cage. His body stiffened slightly as a warm, gentle hand rested itself upon his shoulder. He turned his head and looked at his brother.

"Dad was wrong about you. You're not a screw up, Stanley. You're the bravest person I know...and...and I'm proud to call you my brother."

Stanley blinked and stared at his brothers face. As a professional conman, Stan had long ago mastered the art of lying. Both how to tell lies and how to tell when someone was lying to him.

And in that moment, Stanley knew that his brother absolutely without a shadow of a doubt, told the truth.

"Don't be getting all sappy on me." Stan scolded but a sad but touched smile pulled at his lips. Stanford couldn't help but chuckle slightly but the moment was quickly ruined as the ground began to shake and they heard footsteps coming their way.

"Here he comes." Ford said with dread. His stomach doing a flip flop.

"Ford." Stanley said quietly but urgently.

"What?" Ford asked looking away from the door and back at his brother.

"I just want you to know that despite everything that has happened...I'm glad I got to see you again."

You could have stabbed Ford with the sharpest double edged sword and it would have hurt less than those words did in that moment. But he didn't have much time to reflect on his brothers confession as the ground began to shake once again.

The Stans attention went to the door. Both of them froze and paled as a they saw a mass of yellow. Once Bill fully entered the room, both Stans felt their hearts stop when they spotted two squirming children clutched tightly in Bill's fist.

"Alright Ford! Times up!" Bill declared, his single eye glaring at the cage.

"I've got the kids~" the evil triangle said in a sing song voice and held up his fist so the Stans could see. Dipper and Mabel squirmed and kicked and hit but it was no use. They were as trapped as their Grunkles and all four of the Pines family were at the nonexistent mercy of Bill Cipher.

"I think I'm going to kill one of them now just for the heck of it." Bill declared, his echoing voice filled with sadistic glee. He brought the twins close to his face. He closed his single eye and when he opened it, his pupil was replaced with an image of a pine tree.

"Eeny."

He shut his eye again and this time, the pine tree was replaced with a shooting star symbol when he opened it a second time.

"Meeny."

Pine tree.

"Miney."

Shooting star.

With his free hand, Bill lifted it up and prepared to snap his fingers.

"YOU-!"

 ** _"WAIT!"_**

Everyone froze and looked down at the cage.

"I surrender."

"...Good choice." Bill released his grip, sending Dipper and Mabel plummeting and then faceplanting onto the hard ground.

"Don't do it Ford! It will destroy the universe!" "Stanley" pleaded, grabbing "Stanford" by the shoulders and shaking him for emphasis while Bill shrunk down to his normal size.

"It's the only way!"

The twins disagreement was interrupted by the loud obnoxious laughter of Bill Cipher. "Oh even when you're about to die you Pines twins just cant get along!"

Bill raised a hand which engulfed itself into blue flamed and the cage dismantled and sunk into the ground, disappearing forever. In its place two, long, skinny, almost noodle like arms raised up from the ground and wrapped around "Stanley" pulling him to the ground, and trapping him.

"My only condition," "Stanford" said before things could escalate any further. "Is that you let my brother and the kids go!"

"Fine." Bill agreed.

"NO GRUNKLE FORD! DONT TRUST HIM!" Dipper pleaded, reaching out. Mabel couldn't even form any words she was to shocked and terrified.

"Stanford" didn't respond. He simply took a breath and walked towards what he knew was his doom. But it would all be worth it to save his family.

Once the old man was in front of him, Bill seemed to smile sadistically. His plan had finally succeeded. Once he was inside Ford's mind, he'd find out the secret to destroying the dome and then the world and the entire universe would be his own personal playground.

"It's a _DEAL!"_ His voice echoed and Bill held out his hand, once again engulfing itself in blue flames, eagerly awaiting for the handshake.

Trapped and with absolutely no way out, Dipper, Mabel and Stanford could only watch as Stanley reached his hand out and grabbed the mind demons hand.

As soon as the deal had been struck, Bill's body turned to stone and plopped onto the floor. A see-through, almost ghost like version of Bill rose up from the statue and giggled manically and rushed at "Stanford" who screamed in terror as Bill flew at his face and then disappeared inside.

The man fell to the ground, landing on his knees, his eyes shut and remained perfectly still. The arms around his twin disappeared and he rose to his feet while Dipper and Mabel rushed to Stanley's side.

"Great Uncle Ford." Mabel whimpered, her brown eyes tearing up.

"What's going to happen to him?" Dipper asked, feeling like he was about to be sick.

"I'm going to have to use the memory gun on him to destroy Bill."

The young Pines twins whirled around and looked at "Stanley" when they heard the voice of their Great Uncle Ford come from his mouth. Immediately their attention went to his hands.

One, two, three, four, five...six. Six fingers on each hand.

"G-Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper gulped in shock.

"But-But if you're Ford then that means..."

"Oh Stan..." Dipper sighed looking at his still unmoving Grunkle.

For a few seconds none of the three remaining Pines made a move. Everyone scared of what they knew was about to happen next, even though they knew it had too be done.

With his heart in his stomach and with heavy footsteps, Stanford forced himself to approach his brother. Stanley's head was tilted up slightly, his eyes still shut and his mouth slightly open. He looked so helpless and Ford felt his heart shatter.

He reached his hand up and tossed his brothers beloved fez hat aside. He then reached inside his brother's tuxedo jacket and pulled out the memory gun. With shaky hands, he turned the dial and entered the name into the memory gun. Stanley Pines popped up on the screen in capital letters.

He pointed the gun at his brother and his arms trembled. His mind flashing back to every mean thing he had ever said and done to his brother. Stan had dedicated his whole life to trying to get him out of that portal. Everything Stanley Pines had ever done was for him and it was only now that he was about to metaphorically lose his brother did he realize this.

Stanford looked away and shut his eyes, desperately fighting back tears and forced his arm to steady itself as he pointed the gun at his brother.

 _"I'm so sorry Stanley."_

He pulled the trigger.

...

 **So about the scar thing. There is a headcanon floating around the Gravity Falls fandom that Ford's body is littered with dozens upon dozens of scars due to his time in the deminsion. I believe that that headcanon is very possible so I added it in for extra feels and angst. XD**

 **And concerning the canteen...Well I know it's a kids show and that was probably supposed to be water in there...but that whole entire scene was totally an alcohol joke so I'm saying there was liquor in there! There was alcohol in that canteen and nobody cannot tell me otherwise, dammit! XD**

 **I hope you enjoyed this story. Thank you for reading and please leave a review! :)**


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